From the office of the President, an Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers was published in 2023. It cites the many challenges that have faced individuals when attempting to access long term care, including the following quotes:

• “some types of long-term care costs growing by over 40 percent in the last decade”
• “more than half of the long-term care workforce and nearly 20 percent of the child care workforce turned over each year.  And the workforce remains 8 percent smaller than before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
• “more than three in four long-term care service providers have reported not being able to accept new clients, making it harder for older Americans and people with disabilities to find the care they need.”
• “The need for long-term care is likely to become more acute as our Nation’s population ages.  By 2060, there will be approximately twice as many adults over the age of 65 than in 2016, and projections indicate that there will be around 8 million long-term care job openings over the next decade.”
• “Without adequate resources, family caregiving can affect caregivers’ own physical and emotional health and well-being and contribute to financial strain.  These negative consequences are felt most acutely by women, who make up nearly two-thirds of family caregivers and drop out of the workforce at a rate three times higher than men. “

Planning for long term care is one of the great unknowns of retirement planning. But failing to plan for it through insurance or budgeting may mean that it becomes impossible to access at need. And if you have daughters, they may be the ones paying for that lack of planning, by not being able to continue building their own nest egg.

Do you have a long term care plan?